Bangkla Nights: Dr. Harlan Willis pt 1

Possibly the most enjoyable thing about Thailand has been the time spent with my cousin and grandfather getting to know each other better. The nights in Bangkla the three of us spent sitting on two twin beds telling teach other about our lives, have been filled with laughter, a bit of sadness, and a closeness between and grandfather and his grandsons. The Bangkla Nights posts are a result of those nights, they are meant to tell stories of meaning, closeness, and family.

To say everything there is to be said about my grandfather would take an entire book. To say everything there is to be said about the people who’s lives he has touched would take volumes. Since I don’t currently have the time or complete knowledge to write either in these posts I would like to tell you about the two sides of my grandfather I have seen the most while I have been in Thailand. While the two go hand-in-hand and cannot be separated, for the purpose of these posts I will attempt to separate them. The first of the two posts follows:

Harlan Willis M.D.

When his youngest daughter (and youngest child at the time) was only three Dr. Harlan Willis moved his family to Thailand. Following two years of intense language school, learning tropical medicine, and the planning and building of a hospital he and his family moved to the small Thai town of Bangkla. I doubt the first night in Bangkla, sleeping in his bed in a newly built house he had any idea the number of lives he would save.

I remember during vacations to Granny and Granddaddy’s house we would always visit his office. The air-conditioned St. Mary’s clinic, in Brownfield Texas was half way around the world from Bangkla but it is where I can remember sitting on an exam room table while he listen to my heart. My knowledge of my grandfather’s professional work has been his work in his office, the hospital, and OR in Brownfield, as well as his post retirement work in the Lubbock Community Health Clinic. Until the past two weeks the stories I have heard about his work in Thailand have been distant stories about a distant land. But, Ever since we turned onto the Hospital’s driveway on July 20th and he got his first glimpse of the Hospital he helped to build, I have seen a different side of my grandfather. Suddenly the stories I have heard all of my life no longer seem distant but real.

On our first day in the clinic he gave us a tour of the hospital and took us to the Surgery Department. He referred to the building as the inner sanctum. Hearing the excitement in his voice as he told stories of marathon surgeries and how much he loved it, made me feel like I was small child again, hanging on his every word. To hear him tell stories of water shortages, power outages, operations by candle light, the installation of central oxygen, working with his operating team, and to be able to see the places everything took place paints a vivid picture of part of him I have never known first hand.

My grandfather has always told anyone under his teaching that, “Hard work builds character.” I have always taken this lesson to heart, but what he has failed to tell me is how much of his character he put into his hard work. I have never doubted he worked hard, and I have never doubted that he is a man of incredible character but when I look at the Hospital and the countless lives that were changed because of it, I see the character of my grandfather.

While his first night in Bangkla, Harlan Willis, might not have had any idea about the number of lives that would be saved through his work, he most definitely didn’t know that almost fifty years later, he would be at the hospital he built showing two of his grandsons his life's work. And what he didn’t know and may still not, is the impact his work has had on my life. After the past two weeks I am not only more proud than ever to be his grandson, but I am honored beyond words to learn from a teacher of such character.




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